10 Most Paused Horror Movie Moments

Long before even Stanley Kubrick got his mitts on a Stephen King property, Brian De Palma had his turn, adapting Carrie (Sissy Spacek), the story of a young social outcast for whom the combination of a strict mother, school bullies and sudden onset of telekinesis prove fatal.

A true showstopper, the film's climax sees Carrie literally bring the house down after crucifying her mother, burying them both. But this big red dollop of strange isn't done with us yet, as De Palma tees up one more mystery before that final surprise. A solitary saint survives in the rubble of the family home, with creepy, lit-up eyes that seem neither object nor human.

First things first, it's not actually Jesus (though the cruciform pose, physique and bible at his feet make this an easy mistake), but Saint Sebastian -- another Christian martyr. And the fact that his pose mirrors the one Carrie's mum died in is no mistake, perhaps implying that Carrie's mother was the martyr who died to save us from Carrie, or perhaps making a more complex comment on the role that her uptight religious moralising played in destroying her daughter.

In any case, our fingers couldn't hit the pause button fast enough, halted time and again to compare to Carrie's mother earlier in the scene, to try and work out whose eyes they are and what they might mean, and to generally just spook the bejesus out of us.